Sciatica help please

karinapeterson

Hi there

I seem to have developed sciatica over the last few weeks and it is pretty bad at the moment with some swelling on the side of my left hip. Can anyone give me ideas on how to help it and what exercises to avoid? I have been doing ripped in 30 and 30DS as well as exercycling on the odd day and c25k. Have tried walking instead of the running part but the pain is still as bad. Feel that the roads I have to run on may be the cause as the slope to the outside quite steeply and we do not have footpaths or grass alongside. Am finding it really frustrating needless to say painfull too

ler2665

My dad had a recurring problem with that and got really into biking about 10 years ago. I thought it would make it worse, but it didn't. I don't know if that's the case for everyone, though.

FlyByJuly

There are only two things that work for me when my sciatica acts up....time and/or my chiropractor. I hope yours eases up soon, as I know how painful it can be.

karinapeterson

There are only two things that work for me when my sciatica acts up....time and/or my chiropractor. I hope yours eases up soon, as I know how painful it can be.

thanks, me too hehe, Tired of feeling like my bottom on one side is numb

FlyByJuly

There are only two things that work for me when my sciatica acts up....time and/or my chiropractor. I hope yours eases up soon, as I know how painful it can be.

thanks, me too hehe, Tired of feeling like my bottom on one side is numb

On a positive note, mine hasn't flared up in a long, long time. I'm pretty sure the absence of it can be attributed to weight loss and physical activity. I used to have chronic lower back pain (at times, nearly crippling). My weight loss has banished that as well!! One day, I just realized that I hadn't had any back pain for a long time!

lsapphire

I have sciatic and have had for years. ANY kind of impact hurts. But I have found i can walk for up to an hour and a fairly even surface. Not exactly high burning for sure, but I feel like it is a big improvement and my pain has subsided some.

CanDurkin

I would go see a chiropractor. I have a history of lower back pain and the two things that help the most when it goes out are a trip to my chiro (she's amazing and I love her) and stretching. I started doing yoga twice a week and I haven't had a problem with my lower back in quite sometime.

joders1313

Sometimes Sciatica is overdiagnosed there is something called pseudo sciatica and it's actually caused by a tight piriformis muscle, I would suggest massage or chiropractic care. I also find two stretches amazing for it, if you sit on a chair and cross one leg over the other then slightly fold forward keeping a straight back you will feel a stretch through the glutes, there is also the yoga pose called pigeon that is great (but a little more advanced). you could also sit and roll a tennis ball over your glutes

millers617

There are only two things that work for me when my sciatica acts up....time and/or my chiropractor. I hope yours eases up soon, as I know how painful it can be.

Exact same for me, I suffered years before going to the chiropractor. Finally went and it is the only thing that helps quickly. Also ice not heat, ibuprofen, and continuous ab work to strengthen your core!!

JoolieW68

Ditto on a good chiropractor. I had an issue with it last year where I could barely walk. One trip to the chiro and I was back to normal within 24 hours.

OceansForever

Google Periformis stretch.

That stretch is the only one that helps me through the days. I do it several times a day and when I cannot walk anymore because of pain it is the only thing that will help me.

It stretches the muscle that spasms and pinches the nerve.

I've also started to do Pilates and now added other core muscle strengthening work-outs with hopes to prevent the spasms in the future.

Good luck!

DterMined2012

stretching exercises help relieve the pain as well as ibuprofen 800mg every 6 hours x 7 days
hope this helps

SonyalovesDale

Water aerobics has helped my sciatica. There is a stretch that can be done on land that will help ease the pain: Find something very heavy that won''t move, hold on to it while you place one ankle on your other knee. Slowly "sit" back on an imaginary chair. Your supporting leg should be at a 90 degree angle. Just relax and let it stretch out. Switch legs and stretch that area. This is a favorite stretch for our water classes. I taught this to a man who had ridden 11 hours in a car and could not move. He was up and jogging around the next day! It really works. The swelling is cause for concern thought..... get it checked out.

tracielinn

Massage can help along with the chiropractic. Sometimes the muscles pinch down on the nerve too.

veganbaum

Well, I first must say the obligatory "go see your doctor" if it's really bad. Especially if you've never been seen to make sure it actually is sciatica and not something else. If it is, I suggest getting a foam roller for your back. I started c25k last fall and got hit with a really bad bout of sciatica a few weeks in. I had to go to the doctor for pain medication because I couldn't even sleep. Two of my MFP friends suggested I try a foam roller. So I looked around and got a cheap one to try out. I has taken a couple weeks off running then got back to it and could feel a flare up starting again and used the roller - and my back was better the next day. I love it!! Now I use it after every run, and often after my other workouts. I never would have believed something so simple would make such a dramatic difference, but it has, at least for me.

karinapeterson

Thank you all for your replys. I have been doing the piriformus stretches every day and they help a bit for mobility but the pain or ache is constant. might try the chiropractic way soon. Will rest from running and stick to walking for another week and see how bad it is. I appreciate all your advice. always good to have bits of information from others who have been there and see waht works for me )

mbond6

the butterfly stretch and sleeping like a frog are the only things tha work for me massaging it makes it worse

JaceyMarieS

I'm with the "see your doctor" advice. A chiro may help...or may make things much, much worse depending on why the sciatica has flared. My was compression of the sciatic nerve due to a herniated disc and all the manipulation in the world didn't help and resulted in the nerve damage and foot drop i experienced because i delayed seeking medical treatment. An MRI and steroids reduced the swelling enough that i could attend physical therapy and get the help i needed to walk again. It took me years to get rid of the Franken-foot, so please consider a doctor if your sciatica doesn't improve rather quickly.

ems1583

I suggest you go see an ortho doctor and have it checked. I'm a physical therapist and I've seen the worse cases of sciatica (chronic) There are some movements you need to avoid to prevent further compression. Coz if not seen and treated it might get worse, inital symptoms are just pain, numbness, just sensory deficit but soon can affect motor component of nerves leading to weakness/paralysis. Physical therapy will help you, they have modalities, stretching, core strengthening, and exercise that will help decompress the impingement. Also they can use lumbar traction to decompress the nerve.

Silverniki

The chiropractor did help me some but it was the physiotherapist that helped me tremendously with my severe sciatica 1.5 yrs ago. She had me do exercises where I lay on my stomach for 5 min to relax the spine and then did push ups onto my elbows and back down; do ten, rest for a minute, then 10 more, rest and another 10. She said not to hold it at the top of the push up. That gets the bulging disk to protrude frontwards instead of backwards so it's not compressing the nerve. The pain gradually vanished over a month to 6 weeks and as long as I don't sit with a rounded back, such as on a very soft couch, I have no pain now. I do aquafit, yoga and walking and I'm so happy to be able to exercise without that severe pain. Any time I have even a twinge after sitting on the wrong thing, I promptly do back bends which relieves it now. Hope it helps you.

ems1583

The chiropractor did help me some but it was the physiotherapist that helped me tremendously with my severe sciatica 1.5 yrs ago. She had me do exercises where I lay on my stomach for 5 min to relax the spine and then did push ups onto my elbows and back down; do ten, rest for a minute, then 10 more, rest and another 10. She said not to hold it at the top of the push up. That gets the bulging disk to protrude frontwards instead of backwards so it's not compressing the nerve. The pain gradually vanished over a month to 6 weeks and as long as I don't sit with a rounded back, such as on a very soft couch, I have no pain now. I do aquafit, yoga and walking and I'm so happy to be able to exercise without that severe pain. Any time I have even a twinge after sitting on the wrong thing, I promptly do back bends which relieves it now. Hope it helps you.

Yeah, thats correct. Thats the Mckenzie Extension Exercises. Its better not to self diagnose yourself as there are a lot of causes of back pain wherein some are opposite/contradictory in the movement that you should do for exercises and to avoid. once u go to a doctor, they'll do MRI of your back to know what causing your back pain, then therapy will help you with the treatment and exercises you need to do. I'm not against chiropractor but first line of consult should still be Ortho doctor.

karinapeterson

I probably should have said I dont have any back pain, it is stemming from my hip on an angle to the middle of my bottom cheek which has a numb feeling. At its worst I feel like I may collapse if I put too much pressure on it and the pain sear through my hip part way down the outside of my thigh and into my bottom It is however worst after sitting for longer periods

byrnet18

Hi there-
I am in a similar situation. I have been running for about a year and a half, and in November I started having this pain in my left buttock when I was laying flat in bed and the pain was intense any time I had to turn over. I didn't really do anything about it because the pain went away completely when I got out of bed and started moving around. Then because I was planning on having surgery (totally unrealated from this) I decided to agressivly treat this pain in my butt. At the beginning of March I went to an orthopedic doc and he had no clue, and ended up giving me a cortisone shot in my butt. It helped for about 4 days but then came back. I stopped exercising at the beginning of April and started taking Ibuprofen 800mg every 8 hours, using a heating pad at night when I went to bed, did 20 minutes of piriformis stretches every morning when I woke up and every night before going to bed, I was also taking muscle relaxers at night before bed and doing myofascial release using a tennis ball. None of this helped, in fact, after stopping my running it seemed to get worse. I can not lay flat on my back at all with my legs straight out in front of me or I get intense cramping pain in my left butt muscle, along with sciatic pain down the lateral part of my calf. I googled gluteaus minimus and medius pain and that seemed to explain the pseudo sciatic pain in my leg. It's for sure pinpoint in the middle of my butt however I am not sure what else I can do for this. I ended up canceling my surgery that I was planning for the last year, and I am so bummed. But without being able to lay flat there was no way I could recover from the surgery. I am scheduled to see my general doctor on Monday and I am hoping to get a referral to a massage therapist, possibly a sports physiotherapist and get more muscle relaxers. I hear that this is a common overuse injury amoung runners, so I am eager to see if anyone else has any opinions or things that they have tried and had sucess with.

byrnet18

Oh yeah, forgot to mention, I can walk, and sit in the car/ office chair for long periods of time without pain, but I hurt when I am sitting on my couch, and when laying flat on the floor or in bed. Yesterday I tried not taking ibuprofen for 8 hours just to see if I could tolerate it since I would have to stop taking the ibuprofen 7 days before my surgery, and I was in extreme pain sitting, laying, standing, and walking. It was nuts! It was only after taking the ibuprofen and flexeril (muscle relaxer) that I was able to fall asleep. I am going crazy trying to find an answer. One thing that changed also, was I started the 30DS at the end of March and primarly did the level 2 about 4-5 days a week. I wonder if there was something in there that caused this to rear it's ugly head. Needless to say I stopped that as well when I stopped running.

thebigcb

I would quit the ripped and 30DS at once. I had it for years, got to the point were I was looking at surgery. Meet the surgeon(paid through the nose). Exercise especially anytihng intense would increase the pain of mine. Mine would start in my right foot arch, and work its way up.

The problem with Sciatica is there a many different causes, mine was due to a PARS Defect and incidental spina bifida occulta, yours could be due to a muscle strain, disc problem, tendons, hips.

GO TO YOUR PHYSIO OR GP.

Becky1971

Bump

thebigcb

I ended up having a series of xrays over 2years and MRI scan. Hit the PHYSIO or GP

byrnet18

I had an xray of the hip and it didn't show anything. Ortho doc suggested an MRI if the cortisone shot didn't help. He thought it could be my back. I know it's not my back and I don't think and MRI is going to show anything so I am reluctant to waste my money. I've had back surgery and I know what back pain and sciatica feel like, again, this is not my back. I will also note, about 6 months into my weight loss (about 30 pounds lost) I noticed that my left hip clicked with every step I took. It was never painful, it still clicks and doesn't hurt. It is a tendon snaping over my greater trochanter. I assumed that when I lost fat/padding, it allowed this ligament or tendon to loosen up thus making it pop. I now am beginning to think that maybe this has something to do with the pain in my butt somehow. It's just ironic that it's the same side hip as the affected butt muscle.

sarahanne40

Sometimes Sciatica is overdiagnosed there is something called pseudo sciatica and it's actually caused by a tight piriformis muscle, I would suggest massage or chiropractic care. I also find two stretches amazing for it, if you sit on a chair and cross one leg over the other then slightly fold forward keeping a straight back you will feel a stretch through the glutes, there is also the yoga pose called pigeon that is great (but a little more advanced). you could also sit and roll a tennis ball over your glutes

I don;t know if my pain is sciatica or the tight muscle described above, but going to the chiropractor and using this exact stretch (as above) always helps relieve the shotting pains I sometimes feel down my left hand side!

lisa28115

I would go see a chiropractor. I have a history of lower back pain and the two things that help the most when it goes out are a trip to my chiro (she's amazing and I love her) and stretching. I started doing yoga twice a week and I haven't had a problem with my lower back in quite sometime.

yoga really helps the sciatica :bigsmile:

xcrunnergirl13

I had this last summer. I had to be careful even just standing or a shooting pain would go down my leg and it would collapse (and this was only a couple months before heading off the University on a cross country scholarship so I was pretty freaked out). If you're wondering what cardio you will be able to do the first thing I could do was biking, and later on walking. About a month later I could elliptical and a month after that I could run. I would definatly check with you doctor before excercising though, because you don't want to aggravate anything. Also, everyone is different so you might be able to do different things than I was.

I'm no doctor, but the pain in your butt sounds like it could be your piriformus (hope I spelled that correctly). I believe some people's sciatic nerve goes through thieir piriformus muscle and when the muscle gets too tight can cause sciatica. Again though, I'm no expert, but its something you might want to consider. Maybe some stretches?

Good luck. The hardest part was never knowing when/if the pain would go away but it does, and I'm sure you'll be back to running in no time.